by Kirby Howell
“Daniel forced her to go to bed. He was afraid she would hurt herself or the baby. She’s pretty much stayed in bed since then.”
“Where’s Grey?” I asked.
She looked at me with a small amount of triumph in her brown eyes. “He got back almost a week before Daniel. I’m the only one here who knows he didn’t fly back with the rest. One morning while I was walking to school, Grey was just... there, walking beside me.” She looked pointedly at me. “He told me something bad had happened in Paris, and he needed my help. I ditched school that day.”
I shook my head, ready to argue with her again, but she cut me off before I could say anything.
“I told you I knew about Grey.” Her voice lowered into a whisper, and she leaned toward me like she was about to spill a huge secret. I held my breath and watched her warily.
“And then he told me. He said I was right. He said you told him I knew, and because I was in his inner circle, he needed my help. He said Daniel knew and Shad... he’d known too, but because of what happened, Grey had to come back here ASAP to find you, and no one could know he was here until Paris could gather enough fuel for the plane and fly everyone back. And until then, he had to lie low and look for you, and he needed my help.”
I stared at her helplessly. What on earth was Grey thinking? He couldn’t involve Rissi in this. Why had he told her and not Ben?
“So how were you supposed to help find me?”
She grinned suddenly, my question as good as an admission she was right. “Well, because he wasn’t supposed to be back yet, he wanted me to let him know if Karl popped back up, or you, so he could rescue you. He checks in with me every evening before bed, then disappears again to keep looking for you.”
The thought of Grey’s fruitless efforts made me sigh.
“Come here,” I motioned to her, and she scooted closer on her knees. “What did Karl do when he came for you?” I studied the new bruise on her cheek. She winced when I gently touched the edge of it.
“He just grabbed me and did that thing Grey does, and suddenly I was somewhere else.”
“Were you with anyone when he appeared?”
“No. I was in my room, and I’d just changed into my pajamas. Ben was waiting in the hall until I was done, and we were going to go to sleep.” She paused, looking miserable. “I’ve been having bad dreams, so he’s been sleeping in his chair by my bed.”
“So Karl just showed up in your bedroom and grabbed you and... left?”
She nodded. “I screamed for Ben, but then we weren’t there.”
I shuddered, imagining how panicked Ben must have been, hearing her scream, then barging into an empty room.
Her face screwed up as she tried to stifle a sob. I pulled her into my lap and cradled her against my chest. I smoothed her hair and rocked her while she cried, her tears soaking through the front of my shirt and her fists clenching my collar. I could smell the shampoo on her hair.
After a while, she quieted and only an occasional hiccup interrupted the silence.
“What are we going to do?” she whispered against my wet shirt.
“I’ll think of something. Don’t worry. We’ll both be back home soon. I promise.”
A few hours passed in silence, and Rissi dozed against my shoulder. I was passing between an uncomfortable half-sleep and an even more uncomfortable half-awake state when the door clicked open quietly.
Margery entered the room, and I stared at her in surprise. She held up a paper bag and a bottle of water, offering them to me.
“It’s bread. Fresh. A small piece for each of you. Don’t eat it too fast. I know he hasn’t wanted to send food down here for you.”
I opened the bag. Two small pieces of crusty bread huddled at the bottom. I offered the bag to Rissi, but she shook her head, turning away.
“This is just to get you acclimated back to food. I have more for you to eat in a little while,” Margery reassured.
I looked at Rissi.
“You eat both,” she said and added quietly, as if she felt guilty, “I had dinner just a little while ago.”
I nodded and bit into the first piece of bread. It was still slightly warm from the oven, and the smell was almost too much. I was whisked back two years to The Water Tower, Ben at work at the table on some project, Rissi watching a movie in her tent in the living room while I baked bread in the kitchen and dreamed about meeting the boy who saved me from The Front again. I blinked, and the feeling was gone. I chewed and swallowed until the first piece was gone. It felt heavy in my stomach, like I’d just eaten a massive plate of pasta.
Margery stepped outside the room and returned with another bag. “There are more appropriate clothes for you both in here, along with some toiletries. Take your time. I’ll be back, and then we’re going to go talk to Karl and get all of this straightened out.”
Her voice was kind but slightly irritated. Was she frustrated Karl’s plan had gone so wrong? Was this some kind of trick to get us to trust her? She turned and left before saying more.
I tore into the bag, unearthing the promised soap, water, and towel. I dumped out the clothes to find jeans, sweatshirts, socks and sneakers. A comb fell out last, and I stared at the bounty of useful items — so basic, yet so vital to feeling human.
I washed myself and combed my hair out, then dressed in the fresh clothes. They were brand new with tags still connected. I ripped them off, tossing the trash on the floor. I threw Karl’s shirt and the ripped nightgown into the corner, hoping I’d never wear or see them again. Rissi didn’t want to leave her pajamas, so I convinced her to put on the clothes over them.
I was sitting on the floor, wiggling my toes inside my fresh thick socks, contemplating how my new items might best be used to dismantle the door handle when Margery returned.
“Let’s go,” she said gently. “I have a warm meal ready for both of you, and then we’re going to have a peaceful conversation. This has gotten far out of control, and trust has been damaged on both sides. We’re going to find a resolution we’re all happy with. I hope you can believe me.” She glanced at me, and I nodded, wary at the relief I felt. I hoped I could trust her.
We followed her out the door and down the hall. I glanced through open doors into the rooms surrounding ours. Recording studios and sound booths were everywhere.
“Why did Karl put me into that room when he has an entire hotel at his disposal?”
Margery spoke without turning around. “That room is called an echo chamber. It’s used to rerecord sound as it’s being bounced around its interior. It’s soundproof and conveniently barren. I suppose he thought it was a dramatic place to put you.”
Instead of exiting at the ground floor, we rode up as far as the elevator would take us. When the doors rolled open, we were in a grand lobby. Margery opened one of two large wooden doors, and we emerged into a very large, very round office, though it looked more like a lounge. It must have been the entire top floor of the building. Floor-to-ceiling windows ringed the room, providing almost a 360 view of the dark city. A desk sat at the far edge of the room, empty except for a large computer screen. The rest of the room was taken up by various seating areas, a television, a small raised platform with a few musical instruments on it, and a large conference table.
The conference table caught and held my gaze. It was laid with a modest but wonderful looking meal for two. Steaming vegetables, grilled chicken, a soft pillow of mashed potatoes, more crusty bread, water, and glasses of ice.
“I wasn’t sure what you liked, but I thought after so much time, you probably wouldn’t care what you ate.”
I stepped toward the table, my eyes lingering on the crusty black grill marks lacing the chicken.
“Go ahead and eat, Autumn. Just go slowly. You probably won’t be able to eat much.” She turned to Rissi. “I know you said you weren’t hungry, but please feel free to eat as well. There are also cookies.”
Rissi and I sat down. We looked at each other for a moment, and her eyes
seemed to ask if this was okay. I looked the food over and then nodded at her. If Karl was going to kill us, he wouldn’t be so elaborate as to poison us privately. He’d want an audience.
After only a few bites, my stomach felt as if it might burst, and I leaned back, dizzy and warm from the good food. Rissi was reaching for a second cookie when the door opened and Karl entered. I caught the mildly annoyed look he gave Margery before he sat down on a nearby couch.
Margery sat across from us. “I don’t like how our relationship with you and the rest of New Burbank has devolved to kidnapping and torture,” she said plainly, looking me in the eye.
“There was nothing to devolve from,” I corrected her. “Our relationship with The Front has never been above kidnapping or torture. This is pretty much status quo for Karl.”
Margery sat silent for a moment, and I sensed sadness in her stillness. I wondered if she was thinking back to a time before she’d met Karl, when she was still innocently aging like every other human being around her. I wondered what her life had been like before, if she’d craved power over others and power over time? Maybe it was what had drawn Karl to her? Made him fall in love with her, trust her... and vice versa.
“You’re right,” she said simply, turning her palms up in admission. “Though you’d have to include me in that judgment. I’ve become impatient, and that’s caused me to cut corners, sometimes in a ruthless manner.”
Margery’s voice dropped low, and her French accent thickened as she continued. “My father was a strict man. His expectations were very high for me and my sister. He was a scientist who spent many hours away from my family securing grants and respect in the scientific community for himself. He fought tooth and nail to provide a good life for my mother, and everywhere I went, school, Mass, the market I worked at, friends’ houses, the movie theater – everyone seemed to know my father and expected the same brilliance and excellence from me. Sometimes it was very difficult to be his daughter.”
Margery looked at Rissi and me and raised her eyebrows. “I don’t expect your fathers were quite as difficult on you as mine was on me.”
Rissi stared at her defiantly and said, “My father raised me and my brother by himself. He was a janitor. He cleaned up after other people every day, and when he came home, he always sat with me to talk about school and my friends. And we always played games together, too. He loved me and Ben.”
Margery smiled. “Don’t misunderstand me. I believe my father loved me, just in a different way. It was hard for him to show it sometimes. I knew he loved me, based on his actions. And I knew I needed to be destined for something big. Something he could be proud of me for.”
“And you think your dad would be proud of what you’ve done here?” I asked.
She shook her head. “My father was fascinated by Karl’s very existence and his potential.”
“Your dad knew Karl?” I asked. My opinion of Margery’s father was taking a nosedive.
She nodded. “Who do you think helped him cater the virus to this planet? To ensure that not every single inhabitant on it would die? Karl and my father were partners.” She walked over to Karl and took him by the hand. “He introduced us.”
I shook my head, disgusted.
“It’s a shame he couldn’t be here to see what his work, all of our work, nearly accomplished,” she lamented. “He passed away nearly twenty years ago.”
“Why didn’t he take the Elemental Vitamin like you did?”
“Because it was never offered to him. Karl did offer it to me, though, and together we are carrying on the work.”
“I thought you studied politics, not science,” I said, recalling our time together in Paris.
“I’ve had enough time to study several areas of interest,” she said.
“But why would your dad be in favor of murdering most of the human population on this planet? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“My father came out on the wrong side of the Second World War and was... disenchanted with humanity. He thought he could fix it but didn’t know how. Then he met Karl, who had all the answers.”
If Margery’s father had come out on the wrong side of World War II, would that have made him a Nazi scientist? Maybe Karl had intentionally sought him out.
“I realize what we’ve done. I realize the work my father started and passed to me was... ” she paused.
“Inhumane?” I finished for her. “Indecent? Horrible? Evil?”
“I’m ready to stop now, Autumn. I’ve seen enough to understand what I’ve had a hand in. It’s time for us to leave now, and we want your help to do it.”
“What, so that’s it?” I was confused and not about to believe it was true. “You’re just giving up after making a mess here on Earth? What planet are you going to go decimate next?”
“Please understand, despite the mistakes I’ve made, Earth is, and will always be, my home. I would like to stay and help rebuild what we’ve destroyed, but I know our presence is simply not wanted here, in any capacity. We want to leave you in peace, and we’d like to be granted the ability to leave and make our home elsewhere.”
“On another planet?”
Margery nodded. “We don’t want to hurt anyone else. Those days are behind us. But we need the original virus returned to us... ”
“Wait, you want the virus now?” I asked, confused.
“A small price to pay for yours and this young girl’s freedom, wouldn’t you say?” Margery said softly.
“Surely there’s more of the virus than that tiny vial Karl showed us,” I said.
“Of course, there is more of the altered virus we used on this planet, but not of the original store Karl took from The University laboratories... ”
Karl stopped Margery mid-sentence. “She doesn’t need to know anything else, my love,” he reminded.
She’d shown her hand. My head spun with the ramifications of what they were asking, and suddenly the dots connected. The vial Grey and I possessed was the key to creating another plague, and alterations thereof on any number of planets. If they wanted to try their global experiment again somewhere else, they’d need to have the original virus and start from scratch. On top of that, Grey had theorized the virus was the anti-E-Vitamin, and it might be the key to creating more E-Vitamin. If I couldn’t provide them Grey’s E-Vitamin to replicate, it was possible they could reverse engineer the virus Grey and I had to create more E-Vitamin.
“Autumn?” Rissi’s voice broke through to me, and I looked at her, almost startled to see her sitting beside me. I shook my head. Did I really have a choice?
“Do we have a deal?” Margery asked. “Karl’s vial, containing the virus, for a lifetime of peace for you, your loved ones... and this little girl.”
Even though her voice was calm, I knew a threat to me and Rissi was implied. But then all I could think about was Karl doing this all over again. Another fresh start. Another blank canvas. Waiting to be stained, splotched with red and black by this homeless monster.
I thought of the humans on the planet Karl and Margery would come to call home after Earth. These humans looked like me and Sarah. They met for sweet coffee drinks at Everland’s Coffee Company after school. They annoyed their dads during late night sleepovers. They had mothers who danced while they cleaned. They had crushes on boys at school and plans for their upcoming eighteenth birthdays and their unknown lives beyond. They believed they had futures.
But if I returned Karl’s virus to him, their futures would darken like ours had, and some would cease altogether.
I had a choice to make — put those other lives in jeopardy, or let them hurt Rissi here and now. I looked over at her. She was making a brave face, but I knew there was fear inside. Could I do what needed to be done — make the noble choice and sacrifice myself and this little girl to save countless others? I squeezed Rissi’s hand and knew I couldn’t.
I lifted my eyes and looked at Karl. “Okay,” I whispered, trying not to hate myself. “I can get you your vial ba
ck, but you have to promise me no harm comes to Rissi... ever.”
Karl stood suddenly, surprise lifting his eyebrows. A crash beside me made us all jump. Rissi had stood suddenly, toppling her chair. Her face was a storm cloud as she glared at me.
“You can’t, Autumn! You can’t let him win!” Angry tears streaked down her cheeks, and she swiped the back of her hand across her face. “Why are you doing this? You always do the right thing, and letting the bad guy win isn’t right!”
“Trust me, sweetheart, I’m not winning here,” Karl said.
“Yes, he is.” Rissi stared up at me, eyes begging. “You can’t let him win, or all of this doesn’t count. My dad, your parents, everyone. They have to count. It doesn’t matter what happens to us, Autumn. Fortiter... right?”
Pride and fear swirled inside me, and I stood to place myself between Rissi and Karl. I looked first at Margery and then at Karl. “Go to hell,” I plainly said.
Before I could prepare myself, he appeared in front of me and met my shoulder with the butt of his gun. I crashed across the table, scattering bread crusts and cookies.
Rissi screamed and rushed to me. I braced myself for another blow from Karl, but it didn’t come. Instead, Rissi’s small hands clasped on to my arms, trying to pull me up.
I was surprised to see Margery tug Karl through the door to the lobby as I pushed myself upright.
“Where are they going?” Rissi asked, helping me into a chair.
“I don’t know,” I said, wincing. The new pain in my shoulder was sharp compared to the dull throb of the rest of my tortured body. I looked around the room, but the door they disappeared through seemed to be the only exit.
“Rissi, see if there’s a fire escape,” I said, but Rissi was already running toward the large desk at the back of the room. She skidded around the back and studied the computer screen standing on it. She pressed a button on the side of the monitor, and the computer emitted a soft beep as it powered on. I ran to her, clutching my shoulder with my other hand.
“What are you doing?”
“The most important people always have the best office, don’t they?” Rissi’s face lit up in the sudden glow from the monitor, and she grabbed the mouse.